Parachute equipment



Feb. 16 1954 lRvlN ET AL 2,668,997

PARACHUTE EQUIPMENT Filed Nov. 19, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l ve (g mmm m.

INVENTORS k Leslze I1. Irvzn BY George II. GOZI]%/ Z ATTORNEYS.

' Feb. 16, 1954 L. L. lRVlN Em 2,668,997

PARACHUTE EQUIPMENT Filed Nov. 19, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 E15- 3 :E.T.E|- 5:1

INVENTOFE.

ATTORNEYS.

Patented Feb. 16 1954 UNIT "S" I-A'T"E-S PAT ENT 5 OFFICE PARACHUTE EQUIPMENT Leslie L-Jt VimLetchWorth, and George H. Gould, London, England; assignors to Irving Air Chute Compa'ny,-Ino'., Buffalo, N. Y., a, corporation Application November 19, 1945 Serial .No. 629,530

. Great Britain November 16, 1944 Section 1,Pub1io=Iiaw 690, August 8, 1946 w rxPatentwexpires November .16, .1964

' .BCIaimS. {Oll e-205.17)

.This: invention relates 1: to improvements. in ham-essrcoupling. :structure sparticularly :well adapted for .use.in:.ccnnection withwaircraft safety belts :and parachute 11 harnesses,- ;but I not limited thereto.

""Theprimaryobj ect of this invention is the provision or a coupling cleviceiadapted toeouple the Iastener'ends o'fsstraps 'orwehbing of safetyohelts, hames'seszand the like in such manner that the. same is'practically fb01;ip1'.00f in operation-and can be actuated for. release. of the harness only uponzmanualaintervention of an individual; the coupling device being of '1 such: nature 2 as to --rest comfortably. upon. the body of r the wearer.

" A furtherpbjectr oftthisinvention is the pro.- vision of unimproved quick release coupling device for: parachuteharnes'ses and the like adapted for the connection oisixiastencrparts otherness webbing thereto. I

A further object oftheinvtention the-provisionofan improved coupling of the general nature described having oneans to-rpnevent' snow, ice, dirt and otherz-debrisrfrom interfering with the successful actuation of thevcontrclaparts.

A further object ofith-isinvention is -theprm vision of'an improved quick release ccup1ing--device forz'p'arachute harnesses; safiety belts and the likewhich willffit .comfortably upon the body of a' wearer and which-\ 'i ncludes as a feature. thereof a depress'ible :reoiproca'tory rotary control :member which isih'ei'd against turning-- except-ithru manual intervention.

"Other objects and; advantages of: the invention will" be apparent :.from the. following. detailed description. v In the accompanying-drawings, forming a .part' of this specificatiomand wherein similar reference characters '--designate corresponding 1 parts throughout the severai1-views- "Figure 1 "is a' perspective viewshowing the im-' proved quick release couplinga's attached-to six fasteners for the straps or webbing of parachute harness or the'xlike; showing. the same inlocked position.

Figure 2 edge view of. the coupling; showingjthe manner in which the.-.fa'stener securin ends of detents are located closely to the body facing: surface of the 'coupling.

1 :Figure 3 is a lot-05s sectional view showing the detents of the coupling locking position.

;.Figure A is a erosssectionalview. ofthe parts Smilax 5 ah0wn..in .ieur nd takenron F snne thssietent outmiilockiare position,

. .2 Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view telzonsub stantially on the. line-5 4 of Fi ure '7.

Figure 6 is aview of. the parts-showninfiguge 5 withthe control member depressed and. in the position inwhich the-parts would assume, with the detents out of locking position.

Figure? is :a-plan view of the couplinguwiththe hand engaging control member removed and. an inner detent:movementlimitine membersremav d.

Figure '8 is a side elevation of a member associated with the coupling.

s-Fig ures 9 and 10 are cross sectionai viewsitaleen substantially on their respective. linesshuwn in. Fi e .8. of the drawings.

Figure 11 is a -f ragmenta-ry-view-sh wins a positioning screw which. holds the detent :movement limitingmember in definite relation tethe supporting'body of-thecoupling.

Figure. 12 is .a fragmentary cross seotionalwiew taken substantially on the line I i -J2 of;- Ei ure 7.

In the drawings, wherein-for theapurposeoi illustration is shown only a preferredembargo ment of the invention, the letter ,Amay generally designate the improved-couplinai- It consists of a main body portion -10 havin areciprocabiy mounted therein -d-etents 0 controlled by o rt" ciprocating hub member Des: to their lookin and unlocking positions, by means. of individual levers a control member '1? being attachedto thehub D. Looking means G is associated with the hub structure and control member for look ing the position thereof So far as the prior art is concernemwacknowl ed'gement is made of the fact that heretotore pee ciprocable and rotary control membersimvwbeen p ovided f r re ulatin the. p sitions oithe r detents in their -lock d and unlocked-positionssbut the association has beensuch. thatithe fasteners have been attached on the coupling towardswthe enters-face :thereof and this iorces the couplin uncomfortablyagai-nst the body of the wvearer. Aviators who are compelled to wear acoupling ofjthis. sortior many hours Wi'tbvthfi harness straps or any of them in taut position have found th discomfort such "that very often the aviator willppm; the harness to-secure: relief. 201-1 the other hand, couplings have been made which eliminate to some extent. such discomfort loy'proivid-ing pivoted manual control members to! actw ating the detents. In the main-these-havesbeen unsatisfactory,

-Referr gwi'p the body l8 wh h isofroeurss the supporting structure Iorthe with details,

. the same in ludes a shal ow cylindri allstructute havinea fiatcouteriiaoe which isa'dapt d to be .3, positioned adjacent to the body of the wearer. The same is provided with six lateral slots [2. Centrally, the body Ill is provided with a socket l3a for reciprocably and rotatably receiving the hub D which is closed at the face i l by a thin wall structure l4 having a lubricant receiving aperture l3. The body [9 upon its face It opposite the face H is provided with passageways l3 reciprocably receiving the detents C; these passageways opening in the respective slots [2.

A disc-like member 20 is connected by screws 2| upon the body In in facing relation with the surface l6 and spaced therefrom a definite distance by the screws 2|, which have reduced screw threaded shanks as shown in Figure 11 of the drawings.

The detents C are provided with sloping faces 22 facing in the direction of the outlets of the slots l2 for a purpose well understood in the art. These detents C are socketed inwardly from their outer ends for receiving compressed individual springs 30 which abut the under surface of the disc 20 and normally urge the detents towards and across the respective slots l2. These detents, in the space between the face 16 of the body and the disc 20, are annularly flanged at 3|, and each detent C is provided with diametrically opposed reduced flat surfaces 32 adapted to receive the bifurcated ends of the levers E in such manner as to prevent turning of the respective detents, so that their sloping faces 22 will always face the outlet of the slot 12 when extended thereacross.

It will be noted from the drawings that the detents move from a locked position in a direction away from the body of the wearer, to an unlocked position. This is in contradistinction' to couplings of this sort heretofore provided, which operate the exact reverse, and of course said prior couplings operating on such a principle provide a very bulky portion of the coupling which presses with discomfort against the body of the wearer. In the present coupling, to actuate the detents, in such relation, by means of a rotatable and depressible control arrangement, we prefer to provide the individual levers E operating the detents directly through the hub D. These levers E include an intermediate portion 49 provided with a pointed ball 4] operating each within a socket 42 inwardly from the face Id of the body 10. In angled relation therewith the inner ends of each of said levers or members E are provided with a taper 45 extending into an annular groove 46 provided in the hub D. Their outer ends are likewise angled and bifurcated at 47; the fingers forming the bifurcations engaging in close spaced relation the fiat surfaces 32 of the detents C beneath the flanges 3! of the detents.

In general it should be noted that when the hub D is outermost in its socket within the body I0, as shown in Figures 3 and 5, the levers E are in position so that the individual springs of the detents will force the latter into locking position across the respective slots i2. Depression of the hub D from this position, as shown in Figures 4 and 6, and as will be described in detail, locks the individual levers E and moves the detents C out of the slots l2 and compresses the individual springs 30 to the position shown.

The hub structure D is of course not directly grasped by the wearer of the coupling, but it is controlled as to depression and rotation through the operators grasp of the COI'ltIOI mBmbET'F. To that end disc above desoribed'is centrally 4 apertured at 50 through which the outer end of the hub D extends in either of its positions. The control member F is of a cup-shaped formation, of rather thin gauged metal or other material, including an outer wall 52 and a protecting skirt or wall 54 of cylindrical formation extending normal to the wall 52. The wall 52 has a central opening 55 for receiving a small centering boss 56 upon the outer end of the hub D, and furthermore the wall 52 is provided with openings at each side of the opening 55 for receiving screws 51 by means of which to attach the hub D to the control member F against relative movement of these two parts.

It will be noted that the skirt 54 is of such length as to cover the space between the inside of the wall 52 and the top surface [6 of the body it), at all times. The inner surface of the skirt 54 may be very closely spaced from the outer peripheral edges of the body Ill or even in sliding contact therewith, altho it is preferred that the spacing surfaces be such that they will not bind; the purpose being to exclude snow, ice, dirt and other debris so that the control arrangement may be rotated and depressed with respect to the body In to insure the safety operation of the coupling at all times and under all circum stances. This has heretofore been the defect of present types of coupling structures in general use for parachute and safety belt equipment.

The locking arrangement for holding the hub structure and the control member in position against movement towards or away from the body it, except through manual intervention upon the part of the operator, consists in the provision, inwardly from the outer peripheral surface of the hub D, of outer and inner grooves 60 and 5| extending for'an arc of preferably less than 180 each, and located in parallelism. These are connected at their'ends by groove-like passageways 62 and 63; the separating portions 64 between said grooves providing a locking shoulder facing the groove 6| at one end thereof, and a locking shoulder 66 facing the groove 60 at the opposite end thereof. These grooves, of course, have cam-like faces and against thesecam-like faces a locking pin 10 is urged by a spring I i. A cap screw or nut 13 holds the spring in compression and normally urges the lock pin 10 into one or the other grooves in the relation shown in Figure 5 of. the drawings. With the locking pin in the left side of the groove 6| facing the locking shoulder 65, the detents C will lie in looking position as shown in Figure 3. If it is now necessary to remove the detents to an unlocked position, it is necessary for the operator to grasp'the control member F and rotate it through the desired arc until the locking pin 10 is opposite the passageway 63. This movement is, of course, resisted by reason of the cam-like surfaces facing the locking grooves El and this resistance compels the operator to turn the control member with some efiort to place the looking pin opposite the passageway 63. The operator then depresses the control member in the direction of the base l0 and the pin 10 will then snap into the deeper end of the groove 60 and facethe locking shoulder 66, and at which position the control member will be locked in the position shown in Figures 4 and 6, and of course the detents will be raised through depression of the control arrangement for release of the fastoners upon the-straps of the harness or belt; To again placethecoupling in position so that the detents will snap to locking position, it is when the locking pin is opposite the passageway d2 thegsprings of the *detents )will force the hub and its connected control i'member IF to'ithe position shown in Figure 3 andi o'fcourseithe-de- "tents will move to a'lo'ck'ing' position across the slots 12. In position it will be noted that in order {to-attach the fastenersfifl with any iof ithe hasness orbelt straps 8|, it .is merely necessary :to insert the same to the pointrthat the repenzings therein will lie across the tdetentsg'and r-the latter-twill snap into the openings of thesetfiasiteners in accordance with practice weli iknown niih art.

In the case of a parachute harness it is always desirable to have at least one web or strap of the harness secured to the coupling when the other webs or straps are released from th coupling, so as to prevent loss of the latter. To that end the body portion it across one of the slots I2 may have a detachable bolt Ell! secured through an aperture of one of the fasteners Eli While the fastener 30 is detachable from the coupling, it is held in position at all times upon the harness during normal locked and unlocked operation of the other detents.

Various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be made to the form of invention herein shown and described, without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. In a single point release coupling for parachute harnesses and the like the combination of a cylindrical-shaped shallow body having an arrangement of lateral slots therein, a plurality of detents reciprocably mounted in said body for movement across and away from the slots, spring means normally urging said detents across said slots into locking position, a. rotatable and axially reciprocatory hub mounted upon said body, looking means for holding the hub against reciprocation until it is turned thru a predetermined arc, means connected with the hub for moving said detents against their spring action out of looking position with respect to said slots when the hub is linearly moved to an extended position upon the body, and a cup-like control member connected with said hub for movement therewith and relatively immovable with respect thereto including a skirt portion overlapping in closeoperating relation with the facing surface of the periphery of said body in any position of the hub upon said body, said skirt being of such length as not to cover said slots when the hub is depressed upon the body with the detents in looking position.

2. In a strap coupling device for harnesses the combination of a shallow body having laterally opening slots paralleling and lying close to that surface of the body adapted to contact a wearer, a plurality of detents slidably mounted in said body for lineal movement transverse to the body and across said slots, spring means normally urging the detents into locking positions across said slots, a rotatable hub mounted upon said body for axial reciprocatory movement thereon. means to hold the hub against reciprocation until it is turned into a definite position, means connected to the hub for withdrawing the detents .from looking positions with respect to their respective slots upon depression of the hub upon said body, and a cup-shaped hand grasping control member including a wall portion secured to s icontrolling the latter -arid a skirt a es tion'disposed slieable over the periphery ofiihe said "body-fin any'pesition efsaid cupshapedpen 'troi men-iberupon' said body 'said skirt portion onlyjbeing pf-such lei igth as "not to cover the slots when hub depressed-upon the body with the detents' in-lockin'g position.

a'-couplin'g=--device 'f'orre'l'ea'sably retainin g "fastenerparts of a'ha'rness' a connect-ed relation"the-"combination of a shallow supporting body having a series of transverse slot-s opening l'atera' lly thereupon, ase'ries of detents sl-idably mountediii the bod-y for lineal rncvement'i-n parallelism with each other, "each detent being'mcvable transverselyac'ross a slot of said series to releasably hold a harness fastener part when said part is disposed within the slot, spring means normally urging said detents into harness fastener part retaining position across said slots, a centrally arranged control hub rotatably and also reciprocably mounted for lineal movement in the body in parallelism to the movement of the detents, a pivoted member in the body for each detent, each pivoted member being positioned upon the body at a location between the central control hub and the respective detent with a pivot axis on the body intermediate the ends thereof, and each pivoted member having an inner arm portion operatively engaging the control hub at one side of its pivot axis, so as to permit relative rotation of said control hub independent of movement of the respected pivoted member, and an outer arm member at the opposite side of its pivot axis operatively connected to its respective detent whereby upon reciprocation of the central control hub the detents will be moved into and out of harness fastener retaining relation across said slots, and means upon said supporting body and control member to prevent lineal reciprocation of said control member until rotatably moved to a predetermined position.

4. A coupling as described in claim 3, wherein the central control hub is provided with an annular groove into which the inner arm portions of the pivoted members extend for the said operative connection of them with the central control hub whereby the hub can be rotated independent of the pivoted members.

5. In a coupling device for releasably retaining fastener parts of a harness in a connected relation, the combination of a shallow supporting body having an outer surface and an inner surface, said shallow supporting body immediately adjacent to the inner surface having a series of transverse slots opening laterally thereupon, a series of detents slidably mounted in the body for lineal movement in parallelism with each other, each detent being movable transversely across a slot of said series to releasably hold a harness fastener part when it is disposed within the slot, spring means urging said detents into harness fastener part retaining position across said slots, a centrally arranged control hub rotatably and also reciprocably mounted in the body for lineal movement in parallelism to the movement of the detents, said hub having a portion projecting from the outer surface of the body for controlling the movements of said hub, a pivoted member-in the body for each detent, each pivoted member being positioned upon the body at a position between the central control hub and the respective detent with its pivot engaging said body intermediate the ends of the pivoted member, each pivoted member having an inner arm portion operatively engaging the control hub at one side of the pivot axis of the member, so as-to permit relative rotation of said control hub independent of movement of the respective pivoted member and an outer arm portion at the opposite side of said pivot axis operatively connected to the respective detent, so that upon lineal movement of the central control hub the detents will be moved in parallelism therewith but in direction opposite to the movement of the control hub, into and out of harness fastener retainer relation across said slots, and means upon said supporting body and control member to prevent lineal reciprocation of said control member until rotatably moved into a predetermined position.

LESLIE L. IRVIN.

GEORGE H. GOULD. v

- References Cited in the flle of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date I 1,842,611 Irvin Jan. 26, 1932 2,171,496 Waite et a1 Aug. 29, 1939 2,255,258 Leathern et a1 Sept. 9, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 655,251 France of 1929 664,104 France of 1929 339,388 Great Britain Dec. 11, 1930 363,965 Great Britain of 1931 768,629 France of 1934 811,150 France Jan. 14, 1937 

